In this blog, we will break down HOW to create more space in the top of the pelvis to make it easier for your baby to enter or engage into the pelvis either during pregnancy, or during your birth!
Prepare For Birth: You do not need to wait til labor to focus on opening the pelvis! We can prepare to open the pelvis during pregnancy with our prenatal workouts!
Throughout pregnancy, we can focus on ensuring we have the movement capability to open each pelvic level: the inlet, the midpelvis, and the outlet of the pelvis!
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Opening the Pelvic Inlet
The pelvic inlet, or the top of the pelvis, is where baby engages or enters the pelvis. We want to create more space in this pelvic level so that baby can more easily engage and put more pressure against the cervix for labor progress!
The pelvic inlet opens more with:
- External rotation of the femurs (wide knees, or knees out, ankles in) creates more space from side to side
- Anterior pelvic tilt makes external rotation easier and changes the pelvic angle
- Posterior pelvic tilt moves the sacral promontory backward to create more space front to back.
We can include movements in our prenatal fitness programming to ensure that those movements are easier to find! We can include exercises that encompass these three movement patterns to help baby engage more easily into the pelvis!
1. External Rotation of the Femurs: Wide Knees
The first thing we want to do is to create more space in the top of the pelvis. One movement pattern that creates more space is external rotation at the hip, or wide knee type movements, such as squats! Trying to find an external rotation of the femurs requires the following:
- Glutes pull the hip into extension
- Squats and other glute-focused exercises can support this!
- Adductors and hamstrings release to allow the hips to move into external rotation
Squats of all variations are a great option to focus on external rotation! You may want to also incorporate exercises that allow you to sink deeper into a squat, such as spending time in the bottom of a squat or releasing the inner thighs and hamstrings.
2. Anterior Pelvic Tilt: Change the Pelvic Angle
Next, we want to focus on pelvic tilting type movements to help create space. During labor, you may find that you favor front to back movement patterns if your baby is still high and not yet engaged. This is really cool because you are intuitively creating space to help your baby enter the pelvis without even thinking about it!
An anterior pelvic tilt (arching in the back) can make it easier to find an external rotation of the femurs (which could increase the opening of the pelvic inlet from side to side) and can change the pelvic angle to make it easier for baby to slide into the pelvis.
We can find an anterior pelvic tilt by:
- Strengthening the Lats and hip flexors/quads so they can pull the pelvis forward
- Releasing the Hamstrings and core to allow the pelvis to move forward
The good news is we already tend to favor this position during pregnancy, so finding an anterior pelvic tilt is usually not challenging–we are already in this position. We want to focus on releasing the pull from the hamstrings, and then increase the activation from the quads and lats. A step up and row is a great option to incorporate just that!
If you want more of a breakdown of WHAT to do throughout your prenatal workouts, check out our prenatal fitness programs! We offer it in two formats:
- 40-Week Prenatal Strength in the Teambuildr App (traditional delivery format) both in full length and mini workouts!
- Prenatal On-Demand with full-length workout videos that you follow along as you workout
3. Posterior Pelvic Tilt: Create More Space in the Inlet
The next movement that is important, and probably needs way more of a focus on during pregnancy, is a posterior pelvic tilt, or tucking the butt under/flattening the lower back. This position is more challenging to find during pregnancy! We tend to favor more of an anterior pelvic tilt, or arched back position, so going the opposite way can be tough!
A posterior pelvic tilt moves the sacral promontory (the junction of the lumbar spine and sacrum) backward to create more space front to back in the pelvic inlet.
We can create more of a posterior pelvic tilt by:
- The hamstrings and core activate to pull the pelvis backward
- Lats, quads, and hip flexors release to allow the pelvis to move back
Pelvic tilts in a variety of positions can help move the pelvis front to back. Focus on positions that feel that they are more “stuck” and pausing to stretch can make it easier to find them. Again, this position tends to be more difficult to find during pregnancy due to our common postural tendencies–so we want to really focus on this, as it is an important part of the Mamastefit Birth Prep Circuit!
In order to more easily move into a posterior position with pelvic tilts, we want to release the lats (see the forward leaning lat release video) and hip flexor/quad (included in the circuit).
And then we want to integrate pelvic tilts and increase the pelvic mobility. We can do this with hip shifted positions, which will help you move deeper into the tilts, or a seated and supported position.
We incorporate lots of thoracic and pelvic mobility in our prenatal fitness programs and pelvic floor prep for birth course so you can move your pelvis more easily as you prepare for birth.
Strengthening Exercises for Birth Prep
After releasing the tension, we also want to strengthen the muscles that help pull the pelvis into these positions–particularly the posterior pelvic tilt! This includes the hamstrings and inner thighs! Incorporating exercises like the deadlift into your routine can help you create more space in the top of your pelvic to help your baby engage!
Open the Top of the Pelvis: Help Baby Engage
Want to try an entire workout that is focused on opening the top of the pelvis? Try this inlet opening workout!
We include workouts like this in our prenatal fitness programs starting in the third trimester! We offer our prenatal program in two formats:
- 40-Week Prenatal Strength Program in the Teambuildr App. This program is a list of exercises with demo videos and it syncs to your current week of pregnancy, so you can start anytime!
- Prenatal On-Demand Fitness Program has full-length workout videos that you follow as you work out at the same time. This program sync st your current trimester.
Prepare for Birth Courses
Feel strong and move comfortably throughout your entire pregnancy. Our program syncs to your current week of pregnancy, so you can start at any time!
- 5 Workouts Per Week
- Labor Prep Workouts
- Teambuildr App Access
Stay strong with our shorter prenatal workouts! Workouts are 15-20 minutes long, including a warm up, strength workout, and mobility cool down! This program includes pelvic stability and pelvic opening workouts too!
- 5 Workouts Per Week
- 20 Min Workout
- Labor Prep Workouts
- Teambuildr App Access
Join us for on-demand prenatal fitness classes specific to each trimester!
- 30-40 minute fitness classes
- Trimester Specific Classes
- For Each Trimester
- Lifetime Access of Program